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Cartridges for Pigeons


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I see Andy Crow has been putting over the Gamebore party line that only no6 or no5 will do and not even properly addressing no7.5 Euro clay loads which are UK no7 and effective to at least 40 yards in this month's Sporting Shooter. I really do wonder how much these magazines are actually worth to new entrants to the sport (their main target audience) when they trot out the same old memes? 1703242044_Screenshot_20210918-2039452.png.717b7c0cf5cf8f6189b18fe227537464.png

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I am sure Mr Crow is an excellent shot- he is also probably sponsored by gamebore and no doubt gets his cartridge free. If I was sponsored by BMW and was given a free vehicle of my choice from the BMW 4x4 range- I would say that they were the best 4x4 vehicle.

I wrote recently that I purchased some super fasts 27g 7.5G - and in recent days out decoying- I have shot at everything I would have shot at with no5 or 6 cartridge- and can honestly say that I have had consistent clean kill which I didn’t have with some recent 30g no 5.5 cartridges.

it’s all personal choice really.

Hitman

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I receiced a magazine off BASC the other day, think it went straight into the recycling.

 

All the magazine's these days have just become glorified adverts, the articles are just any nonsence they can scrape together to fill a page, with about 75% if the magazine devoted to adverts and sales ****! 

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2 hours ago, Lloyd90 said:

I receiced a magazine off BASC the other day, think it went straight into the recycling.

 

All the magazine's these days have just become glorified adverts, the articles are just any nonsence they can scrape together to fill a page, with about 75% if the magazine devoted to adverts and sales ****! 

what he says          mine the same         w hat a criock of **** and advertising           i used to look forward to the parodical not any more             

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‘Pattern kills’, so we are told.

I confess I have tried to be a convert to 7.5 shot but I remain to be convinced having tried them a number of times including two weeks ago with less than satisfactory results. I have also tried no.5 shot again with poor results.

I will have to remain a poor shot with no.6 and retain my ‘It’s all in the mind’ mentality.

Edited by JDog
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I would suggest getting as many different loads as you can and see how they pattern in your own gun. You'll be surprised how bad some are. 

I now load my own steel cartridges for my 20 bores.

The factory loads I've opened up and checked vary with powder and shot weights out of the same box. 

The difference keeping the loads consistent is plain to see. 

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For the variety of different shots you will get while pigeon shooting you will never get a one cartridge combination that will suit all , this could be the  same with chokes, if you start changing the choke and cartridge because you got more runners than normal or you couldn't get quite on whatever you were shooting at then their is a good chance you will be changing them for the rest of your shooting days .

I have got an old side x side with the left barrel having a bit more choke than the right , how much ? , I don't know as my finger go down the right barrel a bit furthur than the left one , I used to be a devotee of Clear Pigeon 30gm 6s until the price went through the roof and I started to look around for a cheaper cartridge , over the last few years I have tried stacks of different brands , different shot sizes and different weight, one or two good ones  that stuck out were the Super Fast and Velocity , all the others would certainly kill Pigeons if I was good enough putting the shot in the right place which nowadays is easier said than done.

Every cartridge have it's limitations along with the person who is pulling the trigger , so find what suit you and just enjoy the good days and forget about the bad ones. 

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11 hours ago, GingerCat said:

7's will kill pigeons to 40 yards through cylinder choke . After that pattern fails. 45 yards with full maybe. 5's or 6's don't do it any better. I shoot 6's as u can't get the 7's reliably. 

Why use 44g when 30 with just 1/4 choke will do the same thing

37 minutes ago, London Best said:

Surely it is the larger shot with fewer pellets which needs the tighter chokes?

:good:

You'd have thought so!

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36 minutes ago, marsh man said:

For the variety of different shots you will get while pigeon shooting you will never get a one cartridge combination that will suit all , this could be the  same with chokes, if you start changing the choke and cartridge because you got more runners than normal or you couldn't get quite on whatever you were shooting at then their is a good chance you will be changing them for the rest of your shooting days .

I have got an old side x side with the left barrel having a bit more choke than the right , how much ? , I don't know as my finger go down the right barrel a bit furthur than the left one , I used to be a devotee of Clear Pigeon 30gm 6s until the price went through the roof and I started to look around for a cheaper cartridge , over the last few years I have tried stacks of different brands , different shot sizes and different weight, one or two good ones  that stuck out were the Super Fast and Velocity , all the others would certainly kill Pigeons if I was good enough putting the shot in the right place which nowadays is easier said than done.

Every cartridge have it's limitations along with the person who is pulling the trigger , so find what suit you and just enjoy the good days and forget about the bad ones. 

Good post MM 👍

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33 minutes ago, marsh man said:

For the variety of different shots you will get while pigeon shooting you will never get a one cartridge combination that will suit all , this could be the  same with chokes, if you start changing the choke and cartridge because you got more runners than normal or you couldn't get quite on whatever you were shooting at then their is a good chance you will be changing them for the rest of your shooting days .

I have got an old side x side with the left barrel having a bit more choke than the right , how much ? , I don't know as my finger go down the right barrel a bit furthur than the left one , I used to be a devotee of Clear Pigeon 30gm 6s until the price went through the roof and I started to look around for a cheaper cartridge , over the last few years I have tried stacks of different brands , different shot sizes and different weight, one or two good ones  that stuck out were the Super Fast and Velocity , all the others would certainly kill Pigeons if I was good enough putting the shot in the right place which nowadays is easier said than done.

Every cartridge have it's limitations along with the person who is pulling the trigger , so find what suit you and just enjoy the good days and forget about the bad ones. 

I see that you try the time honoured way of checking for choke MM. Finger down the end of the barrel. Love it. I too admit to have done the same.

When I first started with a 12 bore after the old single barreled .410, Eley Grand Prix 5 shot seemed to be the default cartridge along with those `bang` or `phhht` Sellior & Bellot in packs of ten. However, the cost was prohibitive for me, so I loaded my own with an old rolled turnover machine and de & recapper. Nothing very technical, just copied the powder and shot load from a Grand Prix 6 shot and away I went. Seem to recall I hit my fair share of pigeons and walked up grey partridges with the single barrel full choke BSA Snipe and duck out on the marshes. Knew very little at that time of the effect of chokes, shot sizes etc and so long as I held the gun straight, stuff used to be bagged accordingly including rabbits, all the waders and the very occasional pheasant if I was lucky enough to see one. Grey partridges were common place then and far more regularly encountered than pheasants.

These days I`m a little bit more au fait with shot sizes, chokes etc but tend to stick with fixed chokes (between IC to 1/2) and 6 shot. I think that confidence in a particular cartridge plays a major part and once the gun is seen to pattern well with a certain cartridge, any inconsistency is down to user error. In my 20 bore Macnab Highlander I find that 28 grm RC Sipe No.6s do the job so long as I do my bit. I`m currently using Eley 28 grm VIP 6s and again cannot fault them. 

OB

 

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6 hours ago, wymberley said:

Why use 44g when 30 with just 1/4 choke will do the same thing

:good:

You'd have thought so!

That's my thoughts, if I have 7's I'll shoot cylinder and 1/4 and I've not found them wanting to 40 maybe 45 yards. That's far enough for me decoying. 

Getting actual 7's and reliably can be a pain so I've settled for 6's with 1/4 &1/2 chokes. Yes I get more power at range but the pattern is not better.

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